Edmonds School Board to appoint new member by June

The four current members of the Edmonds School Board have until June 9 to appoint a replacement for Susan Phillips, who resigned March 11 to devote more time to caring for her ailing husband.

The person whom the Board appoints will serve through the 2015 election, when voters would choose someone to fill the last two years of the term that Phillips won in November.

State co-director of elections Katie Blinn said Monday that the position will be open for candidate filing in May, 2015, with the election for the final two years of the term on the November, 2015, ballot. The position will appear on the primary ballot if three or more candidates file.

State law on appointments to nonpartisan offices allows appointees to serve through certification of results of the next election in which positions in that jurisdiction are on the ballot.

That means that the election for the short term would appear on the 2015 ballot along with elections for full terms in the three positions that were filled in the 2011 election.

State law gives remaining members of the Board 90 days to fill the position. If not the five-member Snohomish County Council would have 90 days to make the selection. If the County Council doesn’t make the appointment, the appointing power would go to the governor.

The Board plans to set the timetable and procedures for getting applications for the position and making the decision at its March 25 meeting.

Board Vice President Diana White has been filling in for Phillips as Board president. The Board has yet to decide on when it will pick a new president.

Phillips first joined the board by appointment in November 2007, before winning election to a full term in 2009 and re-election in November.

Phillips has represented District 4, which encompasses much of Lynnwood west of I-5.

Applicants for the position must live in that part of the Edmonds School District, but voters from throughout the School District elect all board members.

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